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michaelg

Hey...i'm new to the forum...my granddad was a bee keeper, i was around it some but dont know a whole lot, but have always been interested in it. I now have a swarm of wild honey bees, which moved into an empted oak wooden barrell...i removed the top and they seem to be thriving.
They have been in there about two months now and have a good bit of comb. My question is, should attempt to move them into a standard bee hive? I do have a brood box, and super, and of course vail and smoker too.

Re: michaelg

If you want to be able to manage and inspect the hive, the barrel will likely turn out to be a problem as the bees build more comb.

You can cut the existing comb into pieces that fit in a frame, then hold it in place with rubber bands stretched over the frame. The bees will attach the cmb to the frame. The longer you wait to do this the more difficult it will be.

Also, Georgia law no doubt requires bees to be housed in a manner that allows inspection, meaning removable frames or bars.

Re: michaelg

Thanks for the advice i will try and do that...never thought about the rubber band idea....any suggestions on how to handle the queen...do i just gently try and place her into the brood box. And also should i place the comb in the racks be fore doing so...again thanks for the info.

Re: michaelg

Re: michaelg

Well i think i got-er-done...put as much brood comb in the racks as i could get, and secured them with the rubber bands...there were so many bees it was impossible to find the queen...do you think that the bees will start working the brood box now...if there is no queen?

I did not know that there was so many bees in the barrel....what will they do now?

Re: michaelg

Give the hive a week or so to settle in. Then check and see how they are doing. Carefully examine the brood comb. If your lucky you may see the queen, she will be in the biggest group of bees. Don't worry if you can not find her as many times even experienced beek can not find her.